From a user perspective, fishing reels are devices for distributing fishing line during a cast and winding it up again when the bait is retrieved. During normal operations, a fisherman ties some sort of object (e.g., a fishing lure) to one end of a long continuous piece of fishing line, the other end of which is secured to the reel's spindle or spool. The excess fishing line is wrapped about this same spool. Then, the selected object and the line attached thereto are cast into the water, with line from within the reel being smoothly released from the reel so as to impede as little as possible the flight of the cast object. The line is then recalled back to the reel through the use of a handle or crank, thereby winding it once again about the spool. Of course, in the preferred scenario a fish will be attached to the remote end of the line when it is so-recalled.
It is the recall of line to the reel and the associated rewinding of it onto the spool which is the subject matter of the instant disclosure. More particularly, when line is retrieved, care must be taken to distribute it on the spool in such as manner as to insure that it can be extracted smoothly again at the next cast, thereby insuring that the next cast is as long as is possible under the circumstances.
In a typical spinning fishing reel arrangement, when the crank is turned to recall the fishing line back to the reel, oscillatory longitudinal movement is imparted to the spool in a direction substantially traverse to the direction from which line enters the spool (i.e., parallel to the longitudinal axis of the spool, the "longitudinal" direction, hereinafter) so as to distribute the line more uniformly along the length of the spool. The spool's oscillatory motion is typically created as follows. Rotation of the crank turns a drive gear that contains a protrusion or pin on its face. The pin engages a guide slot that is cut into a slider-type guide, which guide is mounted on a movable central shaft that is constrained so as to be movable only in the longitudinal direction. As the gear rotates, the pin does likewise, thereby imparting reciprocating movement to the guide as the pin traces a path through its slot. Movement of the guide is then translated to the shaft which, in turn, moves the spool.
In other instances, the guide might take the form of a lever arm which is pivotably attached to the reel housing at one end, with the other end of the lever being free to move along with the pin. As the pin travels through the guide slot, it moves the lever arm which, in turn, imparts longitudinal motion to the spool. An example of this sort of guide may be found in Tipton et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,318, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
It is well known that the shape of the guide slot substantially influences the resulting movement of the spool and, hence, the distribution pattern of line that is deposited thereon. Many sorts of guide shapes have been suggested, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. Early efforts focused on the use of a straight guide slot, but it has been determined that this shape tends to pile up line near the outer margins of the spool. Better results have been obtained using "shaped" guide slots, with the shape being selected to make the line distribution as uniform as possible across the width of the spool. Two examples of the sorts of patterns that others have tried with varying degrees of success include the "Z" pattern of Shibata (U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,489) and the "S" pattern of Baumgartner et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,131), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
However, a problem with conventional spinning style reels is that they are susceptible to having the line bury itself as it is retrieved, which can cause binding the next time the line is paid out, as during a cast. One explanation for this phenomena is that the same velocity function--as defined by the shape of the guide curve--controls the distribution of the line as it moves out and back again. In other words, the coils of line tend to wrap closely next to each other as the spool moves slowly in each direction. The result of this is that the overlying turns align with and tend to be guided into the gap between adjacent underlying turns, thus, causing the line to "bury" itself. Further, since the actual velocity imparted to the spool can never really be constant--which would be the ideal situation--imperfections in the velocity function will be reflected in imperfections in the distribution of line along the width of the spool. Still further, problems in the out-going spool velocity profile will be mirrored by the in-coming spool velocity.
One solution to this problem, as suggested in Tipton et al., cited previously, is to place the guide slot within a lever arm that is mounted in such as way as to cause an asymmetric velocity profile, such that the time for the spool to pass through the out-going cycle is longer (or shorter) than the time required for the spool to pass through the in-coming portion of the cycle. This has the effect of causing the line turns laid in one part of the stroke cycle to be more closely spaced than those in the other part of the stroke cycle. However, this approach is limited to use on a lever-arm based mechanism: it does not generally address the underlying problem of uneven line distribution on any type of reel.
Heretofore, as is well known in the fishing reel arts, there has been a need for an invention to address and solve the above-described problems. Accordingly, it should now be recognized, as was recognized by the present inventor, that there exists, and has existed for some time, a very real need for a device that would address and solve the above-described problems.
Before proceeding to a description of the present invention, however, it should be noted and remembered that the description of the invention which follows, together with the accompanying drawings, should not be construed as limiting the invention to the examples (or preferred embodiments) shown and described. This is so because those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be able to devise other forms of this invention within the ambit of the appended claims.